Would you steal this bike?

A few months ago, I bought a nice shiny bike in Shanghai, pictured here:

I had it for a whole 7 days before it was stolen from the bike rack in front of my building (the “building gate men” [cannot call them guards, as guard things they do not] proved little deterent).

I had made two mistakes.  The first was assuming the 2 free locks I was given from the shop were any good, and the second was that it looked too attractive. The lock issue really pissed me off, especially when I went back to the shop and the guy proceeded to tell me how shit the locks were (he used a scissor snippy motion to show me just how easy it was to cut).  It’s one thing to give a guy a free lock, but surely you can give a disclaimer at the same time (and I had a chinese speaking friend with me so it wasn’t a comms issue).  He then offered me a $1 discount on a new bike (yes, $1), so I pretty much stormed out of that shop never to return.

Two weeks ago I bought a new bike.  Again this one was a shiny red color (unfortunately this model had no other colors, and the other models were granny bikes).

Here it is:

And now with some modifications :]

My plan is this: make the bike look shit, and lock it up with 2 huge-ass locks (ones designed for expensive mopeds).

I think it worked… was at my local coffee shop (yes I found a sweet western style independent coffee shop in my area, how cool is that!?), and one of the customers (they are all fairly affluent) rode up on his shiny black bike.  Later someone asked him if my bike was his, and they all had a good laugh.  So… show off with it I cannot, but at least it won’t get stolen – and under all the crap, is actually a brand new bike, shimono gears and everything, that rides very smoothly.  Even if it looks like your average 10yo grampa rust-bucket.

So far so good… lets hope it lasts.

This is one valid reason for a “crapification” filter (unlike others, looking at you HDCP).

Refunding Airline Taxes

We all know if you buy a cheap, non-refundable ticket, then chance your mind you’re pretty much boned for getting a refund.

And maybe fair enough, you knew it was non-refundable, and this is how the airline can make it so cheap (or so they say).

However, this BBC article makes an extremely good point: you should be entitled to a refund of the TAX component, after all, this is not airline revenue.

To me this makes perfect sense. The taxes and “surcharges” surely are only paid out if you actually take the flight. Airport tax is per-passenger. This was never revenue for the airlines, so why should it be if you cancel your ticket?

Given the huge amounts the Airlines charge in this category (some no doubt is legit, but who knows what is in the mystery “surcharge” category), perhaps this would also encourage more honesty in the break down of fares.

For me personally, I hate how airlines split the fare, and applaud Virgin Blue for not doing this. The total amount is the only amount I care about. But if in fact they want to be so careful to detail this tax component, then perhaps they can do us the courtesy of paying it back if they don’t pay it to the government.

Thanks for listening…

Will